Combined roller and spool mounting for paper machines



Dec. 2, 1947. J, ZIEGLER 2,431,856

COMBINED ROLLER AND SPOOL MOUNTING FOR PAPER MACHINES Filed Jan. '3,1945 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 ,INVENTOR. JOHN A ZIEGLER ATTORNEYS Dec. 2, 1947.J. A. ZIEGLER 2,431,856

COMBINED ROLLER AND SPOOL MOUNTING FOR PAPER MACHINES Filed Jar 1. s,1945 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. JOHN A ZIEGLER BY M w:

ATTORNEYS Patented Dec. 2, 1947 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE COMBTNEDRQLLEB AND SPOOL MOUNTING -FOR PAPER MACHINES .lohnA. Ziegler, Camas,Wash.

Application January 3, 1945, Serial No. 571,168

4 Claims. (Cl. 30820) come this tendency and keep the felt properlypositioned, it is common practice to employ special felt guide rolls.These "guide rolls as a rule are mounted on shafts which have theposition of one end fixed and the other end movably mounted so that theguide roll can be moved out of perpendicularity with the direction oftravel of the felt. As is well known, the tendency of the traveling feltis to follow a path perpendicular to the axis of rotation of any roll orroller over which the felt is passing. Consequently, a slight change inposition of one end of the shaft of a felt guide roll will cause thefelt to creep towards whatever end would bring the line of travel morenearly perpendicular to the guide roll axis.

Various means for causing an automatic change of position of one end ofthe guide roll shaft or axis are at present being used. As part of suchmeans a, control spool is often located adjacent one end of a fixed'roler and connected to the support for the movable end of the guideroll. Certain difficulties are presented with such control means and theprincipal obiect of this invention is to overcome these difficulties andprovide an improved control means end mounting for the same. In theaccompanying drawings:

Fig. l is a fragmentary isometric perspective of a part of apaper-making machine, showing one of the felt guide rolls and myimproved control means connected therewith;

Fig. 2 is an axial section through the main part of such control means,this section corresponding to line 2-2 of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 3 is a section taken transversely through the control snool on theplane indicated by the line 33 of Fig. 2. i

In Fig. l the belt-like carrier or endless felt on which the paper matis carried is shown at H]. The felt passes over the guide roll I l andthe fiit ed roller l2 located a short distance from the guide roll H.The guide roll'shaft I3 is pivotally journaled at one end in a suitablestationary bearing l4. At the o posite end the shaft I3 is jourhaled ina bearing [5 carried on the bottom (if a,

2 pivotally supported arm IS. The arm I6 is pivotal-ly suspended from amachine frame member 41 located above the corresponding end of the guideroll.

A spring [8, having one end attached to the bottom of the bearing l5 andthe other end connected to any suitable member, such as the member IS-mounted on the machine frame, is so arranged as to pull the arm l6 andbearing l5 towards the left, as viewed in Fig. 1, and thus move the axisof the guide roll II out of perpendicularity with the line of travel ofthe felt H1. The direction of travel of the felt ID is indicated by thearrow X in Fig. 1.

The axis of the felt-supporting roller I2 is fixed, the shaft of thisroller being supported in suitable bearing blocks 20 and 2|, secured toopposite sides of the machine frame.

A-spool 22 is rotatably mounted at one end of the roller l2 and thisspool is rotatable independ- 'ent of the roller l2. A leather strap 23is carried on the-spool 22, one end of the strap being att'achedit'othespool andthe other end of the strap being attached to a rope or smallcable M, which in turn is connected to the movable bearing it of theguide r'oll shaft I3. The strap 23 extends counter-clockwise around thespool 22 and thus in the opposite direction from the clockwise directionin which the roller I2 is rotated by the passage of the felt I'll everthe roller l2.

The surface of the spool 22 may be either truly cylindrical or slightlytapered in the form of a cone frustrum, as shown in Fig. 2. I considerthe latter shape preferable. The smaller diameter end of the spool,which .is approximately of the same diameter as the roller 12. is p acedadjacent the roller end and the larger diameter end of the spool is atthe ou side. The strap 23 preferably extends a slight distance over theroller 12 and its inner edge in such case is beveled on the underside.as shown at 24 (Fig. 2). to provide a slight clearance between theunderside of the stra and the surface of the roller [2. and thus preventundue wear on the inner edge of the strap and also to enable the fe t toslide on to the strap without hesitanc or difficu tv. wheneverthe feltstarts to move too far towards the spool end of roller U2. The result ofsuch movement of the felt on to the strap will'be described later.

' The mounting for the spool 22 and for the ro ler shaft at that end ofthe roller I2, is the most important feature of my invention. The rollershaft 25 has an intermediate reduced diameter section 2i; and a furtherreduced diameter outer section {2-1, with a resulting annular shoulderwhere one .preventing the felt from creeping section joins another. Asmall groove 28 extends around section 25, as shown in Fig. 2, thepurpose of which will be explained later. The roller shaft is supportedin suitable bearings, such as the ball bearings 29 mounted in the innerand outer races 30 and 3i. The inner race 35 is held in place by thespacer ring 32 and by the disk 33, which is secured on the end of theroller shaft by the nut I 34. The outer race 3| is securely mounted inthe bearing block 2| and held in place between a tubular housing 35 onthe inside and the end sealing cap 36 on the outside. The cap 36 and thetubular housing 35 are secured to the bearing block 2! by means of bolts31. A bronze bushing 38 is attached to the inside surface of the tubularhousing 35. The outside surface of the tubular housing 35 has a reduceddiameter portion 39 on which the spool 22 is supported.

A plurality of holes or channels 40 extend radially through the bushing38 and tubular housing 35 in registration with the annular groove 28 andthe channels 40 preferably terminate approximately at the center of thebearing surface for the spool on the housing 35.

Lubricant supplied to the space inside the outer end cap 36 will notonly keep the bearings 29 lubricated but considerable portion of suchlubricant will also be delivered through the passageway 4| and thencepass between the bushing 38 and the shaft section 26. Furthermore, someof this lubricant collecting in the shallow groove 28 will be caused bythe centrifugal force generated by the roller shaft to pass through thechannels 40 and from thence between the bearing surfaces of the spooland the reduced diameter portion 39, which serves as the bearing surfacefor the spool on the housing 35.

During the travel of the felt l carrying the paper web or mat in thepaper making machine, let it be assumed that the spring l8 has pulledthe bearing l5 of the guide roll H slightly to the left, as viewed inFig. 1, and thus moved the axis of the guide roll slightly out ofperpendicularity with the line of travel of the felt. Since thetendencyof the felt is to follow a path which is perpendicular to theaxis of rotation of a roller with Which it is in frictional contact, thefelt It] will gradually creep towards the movable end of the guide rollI l and thus will gradually creep towards the spool adjoining the end ofthe roller l2. However, when the edge of the felt starts to move overthe strap 23 the frictional engagement of the felt with the strap willcause the strap and spool 22 to be given a slight clockwise rotation, asviewed in Fig. 1, which will cause a pull to be exerted on the movablebearing l5 against the force of the spring l8. This wi l cause the endof guide roll I l to be moved slightly to the right. When this change inthe position of the axis of the guide roll occurs the tendency of thefelt will than be to creep towards the opposite end of the guide rolland thus to move away from contact with the strap 23. But when the feltno longer engages the strap 23 the pull to the right on the movablehearing I 5 is released and the spring l8 then again functions to movethe bearing I5 slightly to the left, thus preventing the felt fromcreeping too far towards the opposite end of the guide roll. This methodof too far to one end or to the other of the guide roll is well known.

Thus, the spool 22 will remain stationary on the tubular housing 35 mostof the time while the roller [2 is rotating rapidly, but the spool 22will occasionally be required to rotate a. few degrees clockwise andthen counter-clockwise on the stationary housing.

Since considerable water drips from the paper mat as it is carried onthe felt over the various rollers in the paper-making machine, I havefound, with previous mountings for similar control spools, that some ofthis water dripping down over the ends of the rollers will get inbetween the bearing surface of the spool and the supporting bearingsurface of the housing on which the spool is mounted, with the resultthat rust will gradually set in and often also added corrosion caused bychemicals in solution in the water. The fact that the spool rotates soseldom and then only rotates slightly on each occasion, makes itdifficult to keep the bearing surfaces between spool and stationaryhousing completely lubricated, and makes it difficult particularly toprevent water from entering between these bearing surfaces. However,with the special mounting which I have developed I have been able toovercome this difliculty and the lubricant delivered to the bearings 29will not only pass between the bushin 38 and the shaft section 26 duringthe rotation of the roller shaft, but some of this lubricant will bedelivered to the space between the bearing surface of the spool 22 andthe surface f the reduced diameter portion 39 of the housing 35. I havefound, in fact, that the rotation of the roller shaft will causesufiicient lubricant under ordinary circumstances to be delivered tothis space to keep the same so completely filled with lubricant that allwater is prevented from entering into this space regardless of whetherthe spool rotates or not. Thus, danger of any rust or corrosiondeveloping on the bearing surfaces of the spool or housing is entirelyeliminated and the spool is kept properly lubricated at all times toenable it to rotate on the housing whenever this should be required inthe operation of the felt guide means.

I claim:

1. A combined roller and spool mounting for paper machines, comprising abearing support, bearings for one end of the roller shaft mounted withinsaid support, a stationary housing associated with said bearing support,a felt guide control spool rotatably mounted on said housing, aplurality of holes extending through said housing and terminating at thebearing surface for said spool on said housing, means for deliveringlubricant about said shaft in said housing, whereby part of saidlubricant about said shaft in said housing will be caused by therotation of said shaft to pass through said holes and be forced betweenthe bearing surfaces of said spool and housing, thereby keeping saidspool lubricated and preventing water or other undesirable substancesfrom entering between the bearing surfaces of said spool and housing.

2. A combined roller and spool mounting for paper machines, including abearing block, bearings for one end of the roller shaft mounted withinsaid block, a stationary tubular housing attached to said bearing block,a felt guide control spool rotatably mounted on said housing, aplurality of channels extending radially through said housing andterminating at the bearing surface for said spool on said housing, alubricant passageway leading inwardly from said bearings into saidtubular housing, whereby lubricant from said bearings will spread overthe roller shaft within said housing and part of such lubricant will becaused by the rotation of said shaft to pass through said radialchannels and be forced between the bearing surfaces of said spool andhousing, thereby keeping said spool lubricated and preventing water orother undesirable substances from entering between the bearing surfacesof said spool and housing.

3. In a paper making machine having a felt supporting roller, a bearingsupport, bearings for one end of the roller shaft mounted within saidsupport, a stationary housing associated with said bearing support, afelt guide control spool rotatably mounted on said housing, a pluralityof channels extending through said housing and terminating at thebearing surface for said spool on said housing, an annular grooveextending around the roller shaft within said housing, said channelsregistering with said groove, means for delivering lubricant about saidshaft in said housing, whereby part of said lubricant about said shaftin said housing will fill said groove and will be caused by the rotationof said shaft to pass through said channels and be forced between thebearing surfaces of said spool and housing, thereby keeping said spoollubricated and preventing water or other undesirable substances fromentering between the bearing surfaces of said spool and housing.

4. In a paper making machine having a felt supporting roller, a bearingsupport, bearings for one end of the roller shaft mounted within saidsupport, a stationary tubular housing attached to said bearing support,a felt guide control spool rotatably mounted on said housing, a tubularbushing within said stationary housing, a plurality of holes extendingradially through said housing and bushing and terminating at the bearingsurface for said spool on said housing, an annular groove extendingaround the roller shaft within said bushing and housing, said holesregistering with said groove, a lubricant passageway leading inwardlyfrom said bearings into said tubular housing, whereby lubricant fromsaid bearings will spread over the roller shaft within said bushing andhousing and will fill said groove and will be caused by the rotation ofsaid shaft to pass through said radial holes and be forced between thebearing surfaces of said spool and housing, thereby keeping said spoollubricated and preventing water or other undesirable substances fromentering between the bearing surfaces of said spool and housing,

JOHN A. ZLEGLER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 893,690 Wood July 21, 19082,008,318 Ziegler July 16, 1935 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date1,645 Austria Mar. 15, 1900 225,734 Great Britain Dec. 11, 1924

